Sabi – an Australian Army bomb-sniffing dog makes it back to base.
This is a lovely story that has been doing the news rounds recently, and not without good cause. It’s the sort of ‘cuddly feeling’ story that we all need from time to time. Anyway, first a thanks to Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism, who included a link to the BBC story in her daily summary on November 12th.
In the words typical of many online newspapers:
(AP) SYDNEY — A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year.
And Sabi the black Labrador is getting a celebrity welcome home.
Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan province in September 2008, triggering a gunfight that wounded nine troops and earned one Australian soldier the country’s highest bravery medal.
From the Times Online:
Sabi, a four-year-old black labrador, was returned to the Australian base at Tarin Kowt after an American soldier found her wandering in a remote area of the southern province of Oruzgan last week.
The US soldier, named only as John, knew that his Australian counterparts had lost their canine companion during a gun battle between Australian, US and Afghan special forces and Taleban insurgents in south east Afghanistan last September. Nine Australian soldiers, including Sabi’s handler, were wounded during the assault and Sabi went missing.
Sabi, who was on her second tour of duty in Afghanistan, was officially declared missing in action. It is not known how she survived the past year, presumably eluding the Taleban, before being discovered by the soldier, who realised that she was not a stray dog because she understood certain commands.
Nice one, guys!
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 